Leeds United's Statement Win Against Nottingham Forest
Anton Stach didn’t celebrate. He exploded.
The German midfielder spun away towards the corner of the City Ground, arms outstretched, swallowed by the noise from the travelling Leeds United fans after his stunning late free-kick ripped past Matz Sels and turned an opening-day draw into a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
For Leeds, it felt like more than three points. It felt like confirmation.
From bruising defeat to statement win
The contrast with their last visit to Nottingham could hardly be sharper.
Back in November 2025, Lukas Nmecha had given Leeds an early lead in this fixture. Forest hit back with three, handing Sean Dyche his first victory as Forest manager and sending Leeds home with a bloody nose and a lingering fear that their Premier League return might be short-lived.
That afternoon was billed as the start of Forest’s resurgence under yet another new boss. Nine months on, it is Leeds who carry the momentum.
Daniel Farke’s side have now taken 17 points from their past eight league games, winning five of them. Only Arsenal, with 18, have collected more in that period since the start of April. This is no late-season blip. It looks like a trend.
“I expected a difficult game away at Forest,” Farke told BBC Match of the Day after this win. “I’m very happy to come away with a cleansheet and compliments to the players.”
The smiles at full-time said the rest.
From survival mode to something more
Leeds finished 14th last season, eight points clear of the drop. Safe, yes. Comfortable, on paper. But the story of their campaign was far more jagged.
They stumbled back into the Premier League, winning only three of their first 13 matches and losing eight. Pressure built quickly on Farke and his squad. The football looked open, but brittle. The margins were brutal.
Everything shifted on a defeat.
A 3-2 loss at Manchester City on 29 November, and a switch from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2, changed the feel of the team. Leeds still lost that day at Etihad Stadium, but Farke found a shape that gave them ballast as well as bite. From that point, they were beaten only five more times in the league all season.
Ethan Ampadu, who has grown into the role of captain, knows exactly where they went wrong in that first half of the campaign.
“There were times in the first half of last year where we allowed teams to run over us a bit,” he told BBC Final Score. “We wanted to get a bit more solid and put our stamp on the game. We want the ball, we want to be attacking and creative.”
That intent was clear at the City Ground. Leeds were compact without the ball, but never timid with it.
And the ambition is no longer just to cling on.
“We know our targets and goals,” Ampadu said. “We want to be a Premier League club next season. We want to achieve that target and then get to a better place. Once that can be achieved, we think of everything else.”
Cracking the away-day problem
If there was one glaring weakness last season, it came away from Elland Road. Leeds only won twice on their travels in the entire 2025-26 campaign. Every coach will talk about the Premier League being unforgiving on the road; for Leeds, that was their reality.
That is why this victory in Nottingham carried extra weight.
“Away games in Premier League are always difficult,” Farke said. “Sometimes the second year is more difficult. Last season, we picked up many points with draws. On the road, we want to be competitive and be more effective.”
Stach’s late strike did more than win a match. It broke a pattern.
Farke’s ultimatum and an £80m answer
The shift has not happened by accident. After steering Leeds to safety, Farke made it clear he would not simply accept treading water. He publicly warned that he was “not the right choice” to lead the club if his ambition was not matched in the summer.
The board listened.
Leeds invested about £80m in new signings, and three of those recruits walked straight into the starting XI at Forest. All three offered Farke something tangible.
James Trafford, signed from Manchester City for £45m – a record fee for a British goalkeeper – delivered exactly what that price tag demands: big saves in big moments. His handling was clean, his positioning assured, his decision-making sharp. On a day when one mistake could have undone everything, he made none.
In front of him, Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic looked immediately at home. He defended with authority and aggression, and at the other end reminded Forest that he is a serious threat from set-pieces, forcing Sels into action with a towering header.
Harry Wilson, a free transfer after 10 goals and seven assists for Fulham last season, brought craft and menace from wide areas. He thought he had capped his debut with a goal, only to see the offside flag cut his celebration short.
“From the very first minute they walked into the building, they have shown their quality,” Ampadu said. “They have shown why they have been brought in to try and help us get to the next level. They’ve shown that hunger and drive to take Leeds to a better place so that has been very good.”
Farke was just as encouraged.
“I am very happy because they have big boots to fill,” he said. “Trafford is a good player but he hasn’t played that many Premier League games, Tarik too. So they both shined and showed why we agreed to sign them, but the whole group was excellent today. Wilson too was excellent. The vibe and mood is good around the place.”
That “vibe and mood” matters. Farke is now the third-longest-serving manager in the division, behind only Mikel Arteta at Arsenal and Unai Emery at Aston Villa. In a league that chews through coaches, that stability is a weapon.
Old faces, new edge
For all the focus on the new arrivals, it was an established figure who settled this contest.
Stach, already a key presence in midfield, stepped up when the game demanded a moment of quality. His free-kick, struck late and true, was the kind of intervention that turns respectable performances into memorable wins and gives a season its first real jolt of belief.
With players like Stach still delivering, and the likes of Trafford, Muharemovic and Wilson bedding in fast, Leeds look less like a team braced for another survival scrap and more like a side quietly eyeing the next rung up.
They came to Nottingham last season and left with doubts. This time they walked away with a clean sheet, three points, and a sense that under Farke, this might just be the season Leeds stop looking over their shoulder and start looking up.
